Invent: Life Sciences
30 episodes - English - Latest episode: 5 months ago -Invent: Life Sciences, is a podcast exploring the impact of biology and technology on the life sciences sector. Each week, we're joined by the top scientists, engineers, and academics working at the vanguard of this vital industry, to give you a behind-the-scenes look at the world of the life sciences.
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Episodes
The Highlights: A look back at the best moments of Invent: Life Sciences Series 2
November 15, 2023 15:19 - 14 minutes - 19.5 MBThroughout this series of Invent, we have brought you cutting-edge developments in the Life Sciences industry. We have spoken to a wide range of guests who have provided fascinating insights into the manufacture of cell and gene therapies, and what developments in drug testing mean for the future of genetic research. A big thank you to all our guests that featured in this series, make sure you show your appreciation to our esteemed guests by re-listening to your favorite episode...
Process Analytics: how can analytics accelerate the development and manufacture of cell and gene therapies?
November 07, 2023 18:42 - 39 minutes - 36.4 MBThroughout this series, we’ve explored different diseases we target, the sorts of cells which are under development as therapies, and how the therapies themselves are manufactured. With all this innovation, we shouldn’t be surprised by the increased focus on the means by which processes and products themselves are characterised. So, do current process analytical tools provide the insights therapy developers need? And how can new technologies be implemented in the fast-moving life sc...
iPSCs: how could stem cells revolutionise the manufacture of advanced therapies?
November 01, 2023 11:10 - 38 minutes - 87.6 MBAcross the life sciences industry, there is much excitement over the potential impact of stem cells in medicine. And it is clear why; these cells, which can be differentiated into any other cell type, could rewrite the playbook in terms of sourcing cellular material for advanced therapies manufacture. So how might therapy developers benefit from the unique abilities of stem cells? And will they live up to their expectations? To find out, join us on Invent: Life Sciences, a podcast ...
Sex and gender in medical research: how can a focus on the individual improve health outcomes for marginalised groups?
October 25, 2023 14:15 - 35 minutes - 32.7 MBThroughout almost all of medical history, it was assumed that the average white male response to drug trials could be extrapolated to all potential recipients. But when we look at the poorer health outcomes for women and minorities, could the underlying assumptions in medical research be a contributing factor? If so, what is being done to solve them? To find out, join us on Invent: Life Sciences, a podcast brought to you by technology and product development company TTP. This Week...
Organoids: how are in-vitro models revolutionising drug development and testing?
October 18, 2023 12:28 - 34 minutes - 62.8 MBPharmaceutical companies undertake rigorous clinical trials in order to find out which drugs are safe. But in order to better protect the people volunteering for these tests, regulators decreed that data from studies on animals would be the primary evidence needed before approving a clinical trial in humans. Testing drugs on animals has many ethical and practical issues, and so scientists are looking towards different types of in-vitro models as a solution. But what are these models...
The Blood Brain Barrier: can innovations in delivery help us unlock the brain?
October 11, 2023 04:00 - 38 minutes - 69.8 MBModern medicine has helped us develop many effective treatments for diseases found throughout the body, but we’ve yet to have the same success with the brain. The so-called 'blood brain barrier' controls the passage of molecules out of the blood and into the brain, and so it’s not as easy to use the bloodstream to carry therapeutic molecules as we might do for other diseases. Could the blood brain barrier be the key to treating neurological disorders? How can we target this structur...
Small Molecules: can new classes of drug target reinvigorate drug discovery?
October 04, 2023 08:50 - 40 minutes - 55.9 MBIn the pharmaceutical industry, there is a desire to go beyond the traditional ‘compound x acts on protein y,’ and achieve a more nuanced effect on the underlying biology. So, could innovative approaches to small molecules open up a wider application space? And what benefits might this bring to cash-strapped healthcare systems? To find out, join us on Invent: Life Sciences, a podcast brought to you by technology and product development company TTP. This Week's Guests Anne Horgan ...
Cell and gene therapy: how can we transform artisan treatments into mass-market cures?
September 27, 2023 11:14 - 37 minutes - 52 MBCell and gene therapies are extremely effective but their complex production processes, arduous supply chain, and life-critical logistics have prevented mass market adoption. Could digitisation and AI provide a breakthrough in manufacturing? Would more companies be willing to work together on standardisation to provide more flexibility? To find out, join us on Invent: Life Sciences, a podcast brought to you by technology and product development company TTP. This Week's Guests Mat...
mRNA: What did Covid teach us about drug development and distribution?
September 20, 2023 08:43 - 38 minutes - 69.8 MBThe Covid vaccination campaign demonstrated the effectiveness of mRNA-based treatments, so what else is this technology capable of? How can we improve our manufacturing and distribution to ensure treatments are available to those who need them most? To find out, join us on Invent: Life Sciences, a podcast brought to you by technology and product development company TTP. What is mRNA and what is the importance of mRNA treatments? Messenger ribonucleic acid, or mRNA for short, is...
Introducing Invent: Life Science Series 2
September 13, 2023 07:32 - 2 minutes - 2.44 MBInvent: Life Sciences is back for Season 2! Invent: Life Sciences is a podcast about the future of life science and technology, hosted by Head of Cell Gene Therapy and Biotechnology at TTP, Stuart Lowe. Each episode, we’ll be joined by the top scientists, designers, business leaders, and academics working at the vanguard of this vital industry, to give you a behind-the-scenes look at the world of life science. In this new season, we now turn our focus onto advances driving forwa...
Introducing Invent: Health Series 2
February 13, 2023 10:56 - 2 minutes - 3.82 MBCalling all Invent: Life Sciences Subscribers! While you wait for more episodes, make sure to subscribe to our sister podcast, Invent: Health, which has just begun its second season. Listen to the trailer here now! Invent: Health sees host Matt Parker explore the fascinating future of Health technologies. From new closed-loop systems for diabetes to sensing innovations in cardiac health, Matt will be taking a look behind the scenes of these technologies and meeting the people wo...
Life Science Investment: How to invest in change
July 19, 2022 07:00 - 44 minutes - 61 MBThe pandemic drastically altered the landscape for investment flowing into the Life Sciences. Not only was there more money going in, but the market needs changed too, with an unprecedented focus on scaling sectors like testing and vaccines. But what did this mean for sectors which were not on the Covid front line? What happened to the trends that were in train before the pandemic hit? And what have we learnt from this experience that we can deploy in the face of the next global cha...
Diagnostics: How to do self-testing better
July 12, 2022 07:00 - 48 minutes - 66.2 MBIn the past decade, two events have sent shockwaves through the diagnostics industry: Theranos and Covid. The first, is a parable against faking it in an industry which rightly prizes accuracy and safety. The second was an almost insatiable demand for diagnostic testing kits, where the speed of information took second place to accuracy. Was Elizabeth Holmes onto something when she founded Theranos? What if her devices had been able to live up to the hype? And what reputation does se...
Cell Therapy Manufacture: How to scale the manufacture of living drugs
July 05, 2022 07:00 - 46 minutes - 63.8 MBFollowing our first episode of two focusing on cell and gene therapies, outlining the promise and practicalities of delivering curative therapies for chronic diseases, we now focus on cell therapies - so called ‘living drugs’ that are both as powerful as they are complex. Despite the impressive trials and life-changing impacts at the individual level, it’s still not possible to manufacture cell therapies at scales that could benefit a wider range of patients. So what are the differe...
Cell and Gene: How to make advanced therapies accessible
June 28, 2022 07:00 - 47 minutes - 65 MBWith therapies like cell and gene - amongst some of the most significant innovations in modern medicine - the idea of delivering cures for conditions from cancer to diabetes is now within the realm of scientific possibility. But will it be possible to provide the benefits of advanced therapies to all? Should we expect our healthcare systems to foot the bill? And can we re-imagine the development ecosystem to truly realise the potential of cell and gene therapies? In this first of tw...
Preclinical drug development: How to simulate the human body
June 21, 2022 07:00 - 45 minutes - 62.1 MBFrom cosmetics to medicines, animal testing is still widely mandated by regulators. Up to now, there have been few other ways to gather information about the potential human response to drug candidates. But are animal models still the most effective way to test drugs before we use them in humans? Or are these in vivo models outdated, ready to be replaced by innovative new in vitro models of drug development? In this episode of TTP Invent: Life Sciences, we take a look at some of the...
AI: How to think differently
June 14, 2022 07:00 - 47 minutes - 65.8 MBThe hunt to discover new pharmaceuticals in areas of high unmet need can be complex, time-consuming, and costly. For every life saving therapy that hits the market, thousands and even millions of candidate drugs are rejected. A new technology could be changing the way we home in on the most effective therapy: AI. The use of AI in drug discovery - whether through mining research or in highlighting new experimental insight - is one of the most exciting new sectors in the field. But ho...
Synthetic Biology: How to change your genes
June 07, 2022 07:00 - 44 minutes - 61.6 MBWhat is the potential of synthetic biology? A chance to create life-changing therapies by speaking cells’ very own language? Or could rogue researchers use it to turn our own biology against us? Since synthetic biology emerged as a field, the aspirations for its benefits have been as speculative as the concerns about its misuse, making one of the most fascinating and divisive fields in life sciences. But what are its real applications today? And where is it going next? In this epis...
Genomics: How to use a $100 genome
May 31, 2022 07:00 - 46 minutes - 63.2 MBWhen the first human genome was sequenced, the whole project was estimated to have cost some 3 billion dollars and took over 13 years. Now, with massively parallel Next Generation Sequencing it is possible to sequence the human genome in less than 24 hours at a cost of under $1,000. With a rapid decline in sequencing costs, both the number of applications and the amount of data produced have boomed, driving a revolution in medicine. However, with the advent of new enabling technolog...
Invent: Life Sciences from TTP - Trailer
May 24, 2022 08:29 - 2 minutes - 4.05 MBFollowing our thrilling first series of Invent all about health technology, the team at TTP are back with a new series all about the Life Sciences, to explore the impact of biology and technology on the life sciences sector. Life sciences are often referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, deploying biology and technology in real-world applications to transform medicine, diagnostics, and ultimately our ability to engineer the building blocks of life itself. From delivering c...
Bonus - Eye health: The Invisible Pandemic
December 28, 2021 08:00 - 44 minutes - 60.8 MBWe’re currently taking a short hiatus after our first season, where we covered everything from curing blindness to controlling pain; from making hospitals more sustainable to putting a hospital in your home. Before we come back with season two, our friends over at the Life Sciences team here at TTP are going to be dropping their very own series in the new year. Invent: Life Sciences will be a series looking at all things biology - the efficacy of animal testing, the benefits of sy...
Pain: How to feel less pain
December 07, 2021 08:00 - 53 minutes - 73.5 MBWhat is pain? Where does it start and end? In the mind, nerve endings, or somewhere else? In this final episode of the first season of Invent: Health from TTP, we’ll be exploring the many and varied facets of this most essential of human experiences. Speaking with specialists in the fields of psychology and neuroscience, we’ll find out what is being done to measure pain, to mitigate its severity and what the future of pain relief looks like, to see if people involved in healthcare a...
Healthcare's coming home: How to fit a hospital into your home
November 30, 2021 08:00 - 48 minutes - 67.3 MBHealthcare’s coming home, it’s coming home… Or is it? Recent years - and increasingly since COVID 19 - have seen healthcare moving into the home, with patients using more digital products to track their health from the comfort of their sofas. But why? What was the initial trigger for this? What are the risks and benefits? Will this see a dystopian world where only the rich see doctors in person or a complete democratisation of convenient healthcare? In this episode of Invent Health ...
Surgical Robotics: How to build a robot
November 23, 2021 08:00 - 41 minutes - 56.5 MBSurgical robotics are all the rage right now. Attracting huge investment from the biggest names in healthcare devices, the use of robots in surgery has the potential to change the industry in some really profound and exciting ways. However, some have criticised their implementation as an unnecessary expense when humans can perform these tasks just as well. This episode of Invent: Health will see our guests debate the efficacy and effectiveness of surgical robotics, seeing whether it...
Sustainable Healthcare: How to take action
November 16, 2021 08:00 - 38 minutes - 53 MBHumans are designed to make decisions in the now, not ones in the abstract long term. That’s why ‘cathedral thinking’ comes so hard to us - so it's understandable that making healthcare more sustainable is hard when its primary function is first and foremost to save lives today, not the planet tomorrow. It's easy to say you want to be more sustainable but when you're dealing with people's lives, does sustainability go out of the window? So what can we actually do? This episode of In...
Eyecare: How to restore sight
November 09, 2021 08:00 - 42 minutes - 58.1 MBOf all the senses, sight is perhaps our most important. The eye is one of the most incredible organs in nature: it enables us to perceive the world around us, understanding our world through images. And yet we only see a small aspect of reality. But the eye is important beyond just sight. It can also provide a window into our overall health, showing indicators for other things like alzeihmers and blood pressure. In this episode of Invent Health we breakdown the world of modern eyeca...
Neurotech: How to speak to the brain
November 02, 2021 08:00 - 32 minutes - 25.9 MBNeurotech: what is it? Elon Musk’s brain implants that herald a dystopian sci fi future? Or life saving technology which will be able to cure a multitude of injuries: back pain, epilepsy, even paralysis. In this episode of Invent: Health, we take a look at the hype vs the reality in the thrilling field of neurotech, speaking to experts from TTP and beyond to break it down and find out about its history, its current applications and the incredible places it’s going in the future. Fi...
Mental Health: How to think about feeling
October 26, 2021 07:00 - 44 minutes - 35.7 MBThere is now a widespread awareness of the gravity of mental health issues in the general public, and equally in the world of healthcare. But in tandem with its rise we've seen the growth of the so-called "wellness industry", which too often promotes pseudo scientific solutions to the most complex of problems. So how is the health tech industry responding? What are the new frontiers for digital therapeutic care today, especially in the post-pandemic landscape? Find out on this week...
Behavioural Science: How to do what's good for us
October 19, 2021 07:00 - 37 minutes - 30 MBDoing what’s good for you should seem like second nature, so why is it that we as humans so often don’t do things which we know will be effective when it comes to our own health and wellbeing? From difficulties in quitting smoking to the 25% of prescriptions in the UK that are left unfilled, medical non-adherence has profound effects on the health of a population, and it’s also one of the trickiest realms for health practitioners to deal with. How do you literally change someone’s b...
Invent: Health from TTP - Trailer
October 12, 2021 16:51 - 2 minutes - 2.39 MBHello and welcome to Invent: Health, a podcast from technology and product development company TTP. Invent: Health is a podcast about the future of health and technology, hosted by TTP Design and Strategy consultant, Matt Millington. Each week, we’ll be joined by the top scientists, designers, business leaders and academics working at the vanguard of this vital industry, to give you a behind-the-scenes look at the world of health tech. See you soon!